In Forte dei Marmi, in the spaces of Villa Bertelli, the exhibition dossier Migneco is scheduled from June 6 to September 27, 2026. Reality and Vision, dedicated to Giuseppe Migneco (Messina, 1903 - Milan, 1997). The exhibition is curated by Elena Pontiggia and promoted by the City of Forte dei Marmi together with the Villa Bertelli Foundation, with the contribution of the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca. The opening is set for Saturday, June 6, at 4:30 pm.
The initiative is part of a cycle of temporary exhibitions promoted by the president of the Villa Bertelli Foundation, Ermindo Tucci, with the aim of deepening the research of artists linked to the Quarto Platano Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition project is set up in the Ferrario Room, on the second floor of the villa, and presents a nucleus of 22 paintings made between 1939 and 1988, selected to give back a synthesis of Migneco’s path, from the period of his adhesion to the Milanese group of Corrente to his last trials.
The artist’s work is read through a perspective that highlights the centrality of the human figure and the expressionist component of his painting, often traversed by reflections of an existential nature. A number of self-portraits, including Autoritratto (1941), Autoritratto con Luca (1962-63) and Autoritratto (1980-85), also find their place in this framework, helping to delineate a continuity of investigation into identity and the individual condition.
Alongside the representation of man, the path highlights the recurring presence of nature, understood as an element of comparison and counterpoint. In Migneco, landscape and natural elements take on an ambivalent function, presenting themselves as a vital force and at the same time as a space traversed by tension and violence. The exhibition also recalls the artist’s relationship with Forte dei Marmi, where Migneco stayed regularly starting in 1957 during the summer months at his home-studio in Vittoria Apuana. In that context he maintained relationships with Raffaele De Grada, Ernesto Treccani and Bruno Cassinari, becoming part of a network of artistic relations active in the area.
Testifying to this bond is the ceramic panel I pescatori (The Fishermen), donated by the family in 1997 to the Municipality of Forte dei Marmi on the occasion of the naming of a square in Vittoria Apuana, now transformed into a playground area. The work, which underwent a restoration funded by the municipal administration, will be displayed at Villa Bertelli during the exhibition and will remain on permanent display thereafter. The exhibition project is accompanied by a catalog published by Maria Pacini Fazzi, with a preface by Ermindo Tucci, critical text by Elena Pontiggia and photographic documentation of the works on display.
"The title Reality and Vision recalls precisely the double register of Migneco’s painting: on the one hand, the factual attention to the real world, to the toil, labor and dignity of ordinary people; on the other hand, the ability to transfigure reality through color, sign and the expressive power of composition," says Ermindo Tucci. “His painting does not limit itself to representing the visible, but enhances its deepest soul. The visitor is thus able to rediscover an artist who was able to combine civic commitment and aesthetic research, always keeping alive the link with his Sicilian roots and with the great Italian figurative tradition.”
“Migneco is one of the first artists to gravitate around the magazine ”Corrente,“ and one of the most radical in creating a painting with existential accents that does not seek beauty, but what Danton called ’l’âpre verité,’” writes Elena Pontiggia. “And of harsh truth there is much of it in his works, which never attempt to embellish, sweeten, soften, grace and ingratiate, but twist figures and things to show all their misery. Which is then the misery of the human condition.”
Admission is free. Opening hours include 4-7 p.m. for June and September, while in July and August the exhibition can be visited from 5-10 p.m. On the days of Villa Bertelli Live festival concerts, the afternoon opening is suspended and the morning slot 10 a.m.-1 p.m. is activated. There is an early closure on August 27 and closure for the patron’s holiday on August 28. Information is available at +39 0584 787251 and www.villabertelli.it.
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| Forte dei Marmi, Migneco exhibition at Villa Bertelli. Current, expressionism and existential vision |
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